Tlingit language

The history of the Tlingit language still has a lot of white spots, mainly due to the lack of written evidence of the history of the people and the language before the first contact with Europeans around 1790, but even after that and until the beginning of the 20th century. there is only scanty and fragmentary information. The language apparently spread northward from the Ketchikan – Alaska] in the direction of the region, since certain conservative characteristics of the language gradually disappeared from south to north. A number of similarities between the Tlingitic dialects in the area and the Eyak language are particularly impressive due to their vast geographical distance.

Tlingitic is a separate branch of the on-den family, which belongs to the Native American languages ​​of North America. His closest relative is the Ejac language. Edward Sepir (1915) was a supporter of the inclusion of Tlingitic language in the on-den family, however, due to its significant differences from other languages ​​on the den, united in the Atabasc group, strong opponents opposed this point of view - Franz Boas (1917), Plinius Earl Goddard (1920) and a number of other prominent linguists of the time. Studies at the end of the 20th century conducted by Heinz-Jürgen Pinnow (1962, 1968, 1970, and others) and Michael Krauss (1964, 1965, 1969, and others) showed a strong connection with the Ejac language, and therefore with Atabascan languages . Currently, affiliation with languages ​​on the den is considered universally recognized.

Initially, Sapir proposed to connect the Tlingit language also with the Haida language , however, during discussions about the family on the Den, the Haida language was gradually excluded from consideration. Haida is currently considered an isolate with a number of borrowings from Tlingit. However, recently (in 2004), the linguist John Enrico, who came from the Haida people, presented a series of new evidence that led to the resumption of the discussion.

Distributed in the territory from the mouth of the Copper River to the coast of the Gulf of Alaska and most of the islands of the Alexandra Archipelago off the southeast coast of Alaska. Tlingitic is spoken within the modern borders of Alaska, as well as around Lake Atlin in British Columbia .

The first script for the Tlingit language was proposed by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church , when Alaska and part of the coast of North America belonged to the Russian Empire. For this they used the Cyrillic alphabet . Since the 1840s, religious texts in Cyrillic have been published in Tlingitic language. After this territory became part of the United States, English-speaking missionaries developed a script based on the Latin alphabet , which is still used today.

According to Ethnologue , in 2010 the number of speakers was 1,030. According to V. Golla (2007), 500 people are fluent in Tlingit language. Today, the number of speakers is decreasing. In southeastern Alaska, programs are underway to revive and preserve the Tlingit language and culture.

Linguistic status - 8a, dying. Actively used only by older people. Native speakers also speak English.

Tlingit language is divided into five dialects:

1. Yakutatsky - the northernmost of the dialects, is called the dialect center, the city of Yakutat.
2. Transitional - has the features of dialects of the north and south; now almost never used.
3. Southern dialects are also on the verge of extinction.
4. Continental Tlingit - common in Canada.
5. Tongassky - the last speaker of this dialect died in the 1990s.

All dialects differ slightly from each other, mainly in the field of phonetics, their carriers mainly understand each other.

Use of language in the media

The Irish TV series Klondike (2015-17) contains dialogue in Tlingit language.

Degree of freedom of expression of grammatical meanings

Tlingitic language is polysynthetic .

  ax̠- sha -ÿu-∅-li-xash-h
 1SG.O- head -PFV-3.S-CL [–D, l, + I] -cut-VAR
 'he cut my hair'

  du éet ÿaan -u-ÿa-ha-ÿ
 3.PSS BASE-PNCT hunger -PFV.TEL-CL [–D, ∅, + I] -move. Imperceptibly-VAR
 'he is hungry'

 kei = ḡax̠ -ga-u-ḡa-yi-sa-tée up = shout -GCNJ-IRR-G̠CNJ-2PL.S-CL [–D, S, –I] -be 'you (plural) will shout' 

The nature of the boundary between morphemes

Tlingitic language is characterized by an agglutinative system .

  ax̠ léelk'w = hás ∅-ÿu-i-si-tin-h gé-wé yú aan-x '
 1SG.PSS grandparents = PL 3.O-PFV-2SG.S-CL [–D, S, + I] -see-VAR YN-MDST DIST town-LOC
 'did you see my grandfather / my grandmother in that city?'

  té x̠'áak-dé ∅-ÿu-dzi-git-h
 rock between-ALL 3.0-PFV-CL [+ D, S, + I] -fall-VAR
 'he fell into a crevice of a rock'

Marking Locus

In a possessive noun group

Nouns that can be possessed in a possessive construction (that is, everything except names) are divided into alienable and inalienable. In the possessive IG, where the possessed is the alienated noun, vertex marking.

  dzéwish hít- ÿí
 D. Home - PSS
 'house of james'

Inalienable nouns in the role of possessed are not marked by a possessive indicator. These include terms of kinship, body parts, and relational names.

  xóots shá
 brown bear head: INAL
 'brown bear head'

In Prediction

In predication, double marking is observed.

  ax̠ éesh- ch útlx̠i a -∅- ∅ -sa-.i-ː
 1SG.PSS father- ERG soup 3.O -ZCNJ- 3.S -CL [–D, S, –I] -cook-VAR
 'my father is cooking soup'

Role Encoding Type

In Tlingitic language, absolute-ergative encoding.

  X̠'alchán ÿu-∅-ÿa-gut-h
 name PFV-3.S-CL [–D, ∅, + I] -go. SG-VAR
 'X̠'alchán walked'

  X̠'alchán ∅-∅-ÿa-nikw-ː
 name 3.O-ZCNJ-CL [–D, ∅, + I] -pick-VAR
 'X̠'alchán is sick'

  ax̠ éesh- ch útlx̠i a-∅-∅-sa-.i-ː
 1SG.PSS father- ERG soup 3.O-ZCNJ-3.S-CL [–D, S, –I] -cook-VAR
 'my father is cooking soup'

Basic Word Order

The word order in this language is not fixed, but the SOV order is unmarked (see example above).

In the Tlingitic language, 46-48 consonant phonemes are presented depending on the dialect. Three rows of explosive and affricate are distinguished: non-aspiratory, aspiratory and abruptive, as well as two rows of fricative consonants: non-aspiratory and abruptive.

In all dialects, 4 vowel phonemes are represented; there is an opposition between long and short vowels. This language is tonal, depending on the dialect, 2 or 3 tones are distinguished. There are no tones in the Tongas dialect, but there is an opposition of short, long, glottalized and "fading" (faded - at first the sound is articulated normally, and at the end it is muffled due to the quick opening of the glottis after the start of articulation) of vowels.

The basic syllabic structure is CV or CVC, although it can be more complicated.

As mentioned above, nouns are divided into those that may or may not act as possessed in a possessive IG. There are two grammatical cases in this language - ergative and unmarked absolute. In some cases, the ergative, in addition to the subject of the double verb, can mark the instrument. 9 locative cases are also distinguished. Nouns have inflectional indicators of diminutiveness and plural.

There is a small number of adjectives in Tlingit language, they do not change and are impossible in a predicative position.

Initially, the number system was , but under the influence of Indo-European languages ​​it became decimal . Therefore, the numerals for numbers 6-10 are formed from words for numbers 1-5. The basic ones are quantitative numerals, the rest are formed from them with the help of suffixes.

The verb word form consists of a series of morphemes located in a linear order at strictly defined positions. This language has indicators for expressing aspectual meanings, increasing / decreasing actant derivation, surreal mood, and some others. In the root of the verb alternations may occur depending on aspectual indicators. One of the indispensable indicators is a classifier, which cumulatively expresses the values ​​of collateral and valency. Also in the composition of the verb can be subjective and object pronominal.

ALL - allative 'to, toward', BASE - meaningless base for pronominal attachment, CL - classifier: voice, valency, realis, noun class, thematic (± D - D component: + middle voice or thematic, - non-middle; S - S component: {∅, s, l, sh} valency, noun class, thematic; ± I - I component: + realis; - irrealis), ERG - ergative case, GCNJ - ga -conjugation / aspect, G̠CNJ - g̠a - conjugation / aspect, INAL - inalienable noun, IRR - irrealis, PFV - perfective aspect, PL - plural, PNCT - punctual case 'at / to a point', PSS - possessive pronoun or possessed suffix, SG - singular, TEL - telic ( perfective), VAR - stem variation, ZCNJ - ∅ -conjugation / aspect

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• Lingít Yoo X̲'atángi: The Tlingit Language
• Tlingit Teaching and Learning Aids
  • Tlingit noun dictionary
  • Tlingit Verb Dictionary (unfinished)
  • Tongass text
• Alaskan Orthodox Christian texts (Tlingit)
• The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures: Preserving Native Languages
• Yukon Native Language Center
• Talking about Beliefs: The Alaskan Tlingit language today
• Anash Interactive

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